Veinmann says truth must also be credible

Actor, stage speech lecturer and speech and communication trainer Martin Veinmann has put his experience into a book titled “Don’t perform, talk to me,” ERR reported. Speaking on radio, he said that having the truth is not enough: it must also be presented credibly.

Veinmann said the book grew out of the hundreds of training sessions he has conducted. “I have given around 600 or 700 of these training sessions. I thought, why not visualise the programme in a book?” he said.

He was invited to teach stage speech by Ingo Normet, who needed to decide within two or three days who would take on the role. Veinmann said his principles developed gradually, as he initially had no specialised or teaching education apart from what he had received at drama school.

Over time, he connected the subject with everyday life, other professions and public speaking. “If someone wants information from you, you have to provide it. That is where we all meet on equal terms, whether you are an actor, a president or anything else,” he said.

Veinmann said two of his main principles came from Panso: “You can’t hear” and “You don’t believe.” These led him to conclude that truth alone is not sufficient.

“It is very good if you have the truth, but it must also be credible. Credibility is the final degree of the value of truth,” Veinmann said. He added that audiences must believe what an ordinary manager or a senior executive says, just as a theatre audience must believe what it sees in “Hamlet,” regardless of whether the underlying idea is brilliant.

Veinmann said the book’s title suggests a distinction between performing and speaking, but he does not see them as two separate things. In his view, performing is simply a special situation in which people speak and must follow the same principles as in everyday conversation.

He also stressed that although spoken language may be free of strict rules, it is not free of consequences. People can speak as they wish, but the question is whether the consequences they hope for can actually follow.

According to Veinmann, radio voices have an additional responsibility to make listeners see. Words, sentence structure and intonation create an image or an impression in the listener’s mind. Without that impression, people may not understand what is being discussed or whether it is important.